Harrisville, The Tiny Town In Rhode Island With A Terribly Creepy Past

There’s not much to the tiny community of Harrisville, Rhode Island. With a population of under 2,000, this part of Burrillville is quiet and peaceful… for the most part. But if you’ve ever seen the movie The Conjuring, you know that for at least one family, it was anything but. Believe it or not, that horror flick was inspired by real-life events that took place in Rhode Island. This little town has a dark history that is filled with the stuff nightmares are made of.

Sean / Flickr

But the scary tale gets even spookier once you realize it's based on real-life events of the haunting in Harrisville, Rhode Island.

Wikipedia/Magicpiano

The family moved into a four-room farmhouse in Harrisville not realizing it had a rather horrifying history.

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Doug Kerr / Flickr

It started with small things, like the broom going missing and mysterious piles of dirt appearing in the center of a newly cleaned kitchen floor. Then it escalated, with all five children claiming to have seen spirits.

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Doug Kerr / Flickr

Several families had lived in the home for multiple generations, and each of them had been brutally tortured. Several of the children had drowned in a nearby creek, one was murdered, and a few of them hanged themselves in the attic. There was also a reported rape and a few people mysteriously freezing to death.

Sean / Flickr

It was then they learned that the main evil spirit in the home was that of Bathsheba Sherma, an alleged witch who lived in the house in the 19th century and hanged herself in a tree in the yard. Bathsheba had been accused of being tied to an infant's death, though nothing was ever proven.

Jimmy Emerson, DVM / Flickr

When it was over, the family asked Ed and Lorraine (who denied there was a seance until their deaths) to leave. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, the Perrons were forced to remain in the house for 10 years. Once they left, they never experienced paranormal activity again.

These days, the house in Harrisville is owned by a couple of paranormal investigators who claim that there is activity in the home, but no evil spirits. And just like that, Harrisville, Rhode Island, went back to being a quiet community.

If you want to experience a terrifying experience surrounding the ghosts found in stories of Rhode Island history then you can go on your very own ghost hunt. Walk through the creepy house that inspired the movie The Conjuring House. Enter if you dare… If you have entered this haunted house, we’d love you hear all about your experience!

Ready to explore more of Rhode Island? Set off on one of the best hiking trails in Rhode Island; find them on AllTrails.